Karen O’Connell: Associate Professor, Faculty of Law
About my work
My current research, grounded in twenty years of professional and academic work in discrimination law, is focused on the need to shift and re-orient equality laws in two key ways. First, my “hostile environment” research focuses on the need to move regulatory attention away from the stigmatised individual to the unequal environment in which they operate. My scholarship on reforming disability discrimination laws to focus on the ‘disabling’ environment rather than individuals with disability, and current research on sexual harassment in gender-hostile environments are examples of this work.
Second, my “bioinequalities” research tackles the broader underpinnings of inequality by taking a lifecycle and intergenerational approach and engaging with emerging neuroscientific and epigenetic knowledge to develop new regulatory responses to seemingly intransigent social inequalities. This includes collaborative work with Distinguished Professor Isabel Karpin and developed out of our four-year Australia Research Council Discovery Grant (DP150102935) (2015-2019) on “The Legal Regulation of Behaviour as a Disability”. All of my research, collaborations, funding efforts and public engagement are connected to the fundamental aim of addressing inequality in these innovative ways.
A memorable win
Since 2017, I have had remarkable opportunities to apply my research and expertise on sexual harassment to an area of law and policy that is transforming, under the influence of the #metoo movement, and ongoing public pressure for governmental action on gender equality in Australia and internationally. This matches the way that most law reform takes place: collectively, collaboratively and through cumulative acts.
My contributions to the broad social and legal transformation around sexual harassment have been at the institutional, national and international level.
At an institutional level, I have advised private and public institutions, from the Champions of Change, a collective of CEOs and senior managers, to sporting and legal associations, on changing their internal practices to prevent sexual harassment.
At a national level, I provided expert advice to the Australian Human Rights Commission on their Respect@work report, that has led to significant sexual harassment law reform; the Australian government on improving parliamentary processes following the Brittney Higgins case; and have recently been appointed to the sexual harassment advisory group of the new National Women’s Safety Alliance, the federal government’s advisory body on addressing violence against women.
At an international level, I have provided gender equality training to the Chinese government and non-government organisations through the China-Australia Human Rights Technical Cooperation (HRTC) Program of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I have also worked internationally through the sexual harassment group of the Berkeley Centre for Comparative Equality, a collective of over 600 international scholars, and produced an international toolkit on sexual harassment investigations.
Bio: Dr O’Connell is an internationally and nationally recognised expert in sexual harassment and discrimination law, with over twenty years’ experience in legal research, policy, practice and law reform. She is experienced in managing large research projects, including an Australia Research Council grant on 'The Legal Regulation of Behaviour as a Disability' (2015-2019, with Prof Isabel Karpin). Her research is published in top-level national and international journals and she advises public and private organisations on sexual harassment law and policy.
Prior to joining UTS as a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr O’Connell was a Senior Advisor on human rights law and policy at the Australian Human Rights Commission. In a number of roles, she worked on national inquires and major reports into gender equality and produced national guidelines on sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination.
Dr O'Connell completed her masters and doctoral degrees at Columbia University in New York. She is on the advisory board of the Berkeley Centre for Comparative Equality and a member of the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group. She is a frequent media commentator on sexual harassment. In 2021 she was awarded 'Legal Academic of the Year' by the NSW Women Lawyers Association.
